A Different White Knight Turned Black King
by Zee-Zee Magee
Summary: AU. Ummm... Title says it all!


**A/N: **_I haven't forgotten about The Perkins Job and The Chase, I swear! I just can't get the middle of the former to cooperate with me, but I have the ending at perfection and you are going to love the twist! The Chase is merely stuck in my head right now because I'm writing everything else except fanfiction at the moment apparently! Sorry for those readers who are waiting ever so patiently for the updates but it will be only a little bit longer. Anyway, I got this fantastic idea from a prompt over at comment_fic and got sick and tired of seeing it in my drabbles folder. So... enjoy and honestly, does it seem like I have any rights to the show! I wouldn't even be able to write fanfiction if that were happening!_

Sterling sat at the bar watching his team of thieves working together in a way they had never done before this job. He watched Eliot and Hardison argue over whether or not their newest safety measures would work for the con. He watched as Parker tried to add in her two cents that she felt the two needed to be reminded that bombs were perfect for their safety plan. He watched as Sophie stared at a carefully measured glass of whiskey with that wistful expression shimmering on her face. Sterling watched as his team continued to bicker and act like children about the con. He took a swig from his flask and moved to the seat beside the grifter.

"Want something with a little more strength?" Sterling offered the flask to the distracted grifter with hopeful eyes.

"I'm fine, thanks," Sophie commented as she continued to stare at her poured whiskey.

"It wasn't your fault," Sterling stated simply, "He didn't want you to pay."

"It wasn't your fault either," Sophie commented with that displeased look in her eyes she had worn since, well since it happened.

"We'll make him pay," Sterling replied with a gentle pat on the grifter's hand to avoid the truth behind the issue, "Blackpoole's going down."

"I'm not going to kill him, Sterling," Sophie scoffed at the ex-insurance investigator's precautionary conversation.

"I have one question to ask," Sterling replied sharply so he wouldn't have to answer the question she just posed.

"Only one?" Sophie directed back as if it were a challenge though it looked nothing like the old Sophie's smirk on her lips but that was before.

"Were you his mistress?" Sterling asked bluntly because there was no reason to be coy in such a delicate situation.

"Nate never cheated on Maggie," Sophie hissed at him as if he were something to be scorned, "He was not that kind of man."

"And now his son is forced to live without him," Sterling nodded at the bitter truth they had both been avoiding for the past few months, "I needed to know, Sophie."

"What?" Sophie demanded hotly, "If he was shagging me when he was supposed to be turning me in so you can move in on his wife? Or were you wondering if I was in love with him so you could prevent me from getting too overinvested in our con?"

"He was my best friend!" Sterling stated sharply though he wasn't ready for a verbal squabble with the scornful woman beside him in a situation like this, "I miss him too!"

"Then why didn't you ask me to help him sooner?" Sophie spat back with tears, damn tears, sparkling in the corners of her eyes.

"I didn't know my boss was that much of a prick!" Sterling spat back, it was a lie and they both knew it but why not keep up appearances for the tiny crowd of thieves they were starting to draw?

"Wanker," Sophie scoffed as she skipped over the measured glass of whiskey and grabbed the bottle on her way out of the conference room and into her office for a night of drinking.

"You upset her," Parker glared at the mastermind as she began to brood about the grifter's drinking habits again.

"What did you say to her, man?" Hardison demanded angrily as he joined in the thief's glare of hatred towards him.

"I asked if they were having an affair," Sterling stated bitterly with a pointed sip from his flask, "I needed to know in case she wouldn't be able to do her job. It was necessary for the success of the con."

"I can't wait 'til this job is over!" Eliot gruffly replied as he headed towards his office in a seething rage, "Then I won't have to deal with any of you ever again!"

"Nate would have gone after her," Hardison pointed out angrily.

"I'm not Nate, am I?" Sterling asked as he hoped they didn't notice his flinch at the mention of his friend's name.

"You're mean," Parker commented angrily as she walked off to her office to plan some other portion of the con alone.

"We're here to avenge Nate!" Hardison growled at the mastermind on his way out, "We're not here to put up with your old rivalry over Sophie! Leave her alone!"

"Buggar off!" Sterling shouted after him as he took another gulp of the amber liquid he craved so much.

It was his fault. Didn't they understand that? He was the one who didn't do what he should have done when the cancer had first started. He should have gone to Blackpoole sooner. He should have beat the guy to a pulp until he realized that Nate had been the best of them. He should have asked Sophie for her help when it would have made a difference. He should have thrown his pride away the moment he found out his friend was going to die and went to the grifter who would have done anything to save him. Why didn't they get that? Sterling laughed. He knew why. They didn't see the look in Maggie's eyes as she was told her husband didn't have much longer to live. They didn't hear the hollowness in Sam's voice every time he mentioned his father's passing. They didn't have to deliver the news to the grifter who, in uncharacteristic generosity, paid off all of the medical bills for the family under the guise of a charity representative. They didn't have to live with the knowledge that he did nothing for his best friend. They only knew him as an honest man and the best insurance agent to ever be on the streets. Parker only knew Nate as the one guy to avoid if she wanted to stay free and avoid him she did. Hardison only knew Nate as the man who caught him the fastest and the only one who actually seemed disappointed in his life-style choice. Eliot knew him as a reliable man who made working easier and way more efficient but he never knew him as a friend. Sophie knew him as the only equal she had who wasn't Sterling. This con wasn't just for him. This was for Maggie, who lost her husband and became a single parent with no idea that her husband's boss couldn't even cough up the cash to save one of his best employees. This was for Sam, who lost a father way too soon to ever be pure from the evils of the world ever again. This was for Sophie, who lost the only man she ever truly loved even though the only version she knew was a fantasy cooked to perfection within her mind. This was for him, Jim Sterling, who lost his best friend because he cared more about their massive competition to capture one silly grifter instead of their friendship. This was for Nate, who gave his life to create a team of thieves who protected the victims of those who thought they were the best. This was revenge! Ian Blackpoole would lose everything because of what he had taken away. The White Knight was gone and now Sterling was forced to play the Black King. It should have been Nate. He wouldn't have problems controlling these thieves. Eliot would respect him and fight for him without any hesitations. Hardison would keep proper focus under his advisement and actually learn from his disastrous mistakes. Parker would actually be social under his protection and would learn to become something more than an aloof thief. Sophie would still have that old shimmer in her eyes under his constant vigilance and not be some drunk, hollow shell of a grifter with no real identity. He would still be able to be the man he once was with Nate there to constantly challenge him instead of the leader of a bunch of thieves who were only in it to avenge a man they all respected and secretly loved. This was for Nate, a man whose greatness they would never truly know.


End file.
